Cam control over extractor



Oct. 28, 1958 Filed Dec. 12, 1955 INVEN TOR. UBO H.\/nn Luasnir zer 5 o. H. VON LOSSNITZER 2,857,700

CAM CONTROL OVER EXTRACTOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 12, 1955 INVENTOR. Eli-1|: I-LVmn Lussniizer fln'aR/vmys.

JKZM M Qua-@141 United States Patent CAM CONTROL OVER EXTRACTOR Otto H. von Lossnitzer, Agawam, Mass., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Application December 12, 1955, Serial No. 552,670

2 Claims. (Cl. 42-68) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to automatic revolver-type guns and more particularly to an actuator for operating the extractor therefor.

A conventional gun of this type is provided with a recoil unit, and a rotatable drum thereon with cartridge chambers and a firing station therefor. The gun includes an actuator disposed for slidable operation with respect to the recoil unit to successively rotate the chambers to the firing station for discharge of cartridges therein and the cases of the fired cartridges to an adjacent extraction station. An extractor pivoted on the recoil unit includes a torsion spring to bias the extractor to a normal position against the rear face of the drum for engagement in the extraction grooves of the fired cartridge cases.

The extractor is engageable with a striker on the actuator to remove the cases from the drum responsive to the slidable operation of the actuator. The torsion spring is utilized to finally return the extractor to the normal position.

It is an object of my invention to provide such a gun with cam means which will eliminate the necessity for depending on any spring to return the extractor into position to engage in the extractor groove of a fired cartridge case.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a gun with an extractor return cam which also serves to hold the extractor in the cartridge engaging position until final movement of the actuator in'to battery position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such an extractor return cam with the ability to automatically adjust the position thereof relative to the extractor in order to compensate for accumulation of tolerances between the actuator and the recoil unit in which it reciprocates.

Further aims and objects of my invention will appear from the following description thereof.

In carrying out my invention, a gun of the type described is provided with means for removing discharged cartridge cases from the drum comprising an extractor pivoted on the recoil unit, a striker disposed on the actuator for rotating the extractor to withdraw the fired cartridge case from the chamber therefor in the drum, and a cam on the actuator for returning the extractor to the normal ready-to-extract position thereof. The extractor return cam is pivotally mounted in the actuator and is provided with spring means for continually urging the outer edge thereof into contact with the extractor to compensate for accumulation of tolerances between the re coil unit and the actuatorv For a more complete understanding of my invention, reference is directed to the following description and accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of an automatic revolver-type gun incorporating my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view along line 2-2 of Fig. .1;

Fig. 3 is a view along line 33 of Fig. 2 but showing the actuator in the fullyrecoiled position;

Fig. 4 is a view along line 4-4 of Fig. 2 with the actuator engaging the extractor; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 with the actuator in battery position.

Accordingly, a gun 12 having a recoil unit 14 is provided with a rotatable drum 16 including chambers 18 for inclosing cartridges 20 and an actuator 22 biased to a battery position to selectively retain the chambers in the six oclock firing station thereof for discharge of the cartridges.

Actuator 22 is axially slidable for reciprocation to suc- 3 cessively rotate the chambers to the firing station andthe immediately subsequent extraction station for removal of the cases from the drum responsive to the discharge.

An extractor 26 includes a pin substantially cylindrical body 28 rotatable in recoil unit 14 adjacent the extraction station and a pawl 30 including a finger end 32 is disposed on the upper end of body 28 for normal position engagement with drum 16.

An arm 34 is secured to the lower end of body 28 and is provided with a depending lug 36 for engagement with a striker portion 44 on actuator 22. A longitudinal cam member 42 is pivotally mounted as shown at 46 in a recess 56 formed into the top of actuator 22.

Actuator 22 is shown in the recoiled position in Fig. 3 with extractor 26 retained in the normal ready-to-extract position thereof by the outer edge of cam member 42. A spring 48 is seated between a fixed stop 50 on actuator 22 and the forward end of cam member 42 to normally urge the rear end thereof into contact with a longitudinal shoulder 52 on actuator 22. The rear end of cam member 42 is provided with an inclined camming surface 54 arranged to rotate extractor 26 so as to bring pawl 30 into contact with the rear face of drum 16 for positioning edge 32 to engage in the extractor groove of a fired cartridge case 24 as such case is moved into the extraction station by the rotation of drum 16.

A pair of stops 58 and 60 are disposed on recoil unit 14 to restrict rotation of extractor 26 for ease of assembly of gun 12.

During recoil movement of actuator 22, cam surface 54 of member 42 strikes depending lug 36 and rotates extractor body 28 to return pawl 30 thereon into contact with the rear face of drum 16. End 32 of pawl 30 is thus positioned to engage in the extractor groove of the fired cartridge case upon the transfer thereof from the firing to the extraction station.

As actuator 22 continues to recoil, the outer edge 40 of member 42 moves into engagement with the side of lug 36 to hold extractor pawl 30 in the ready-to-extract position. In view of the tolerances required in the manufacture of actuator 22 and recoil unit 14, the assembly thereof invariably results in some misalignment therebetween during the longitudinal reciprocation of actuator 22. Obviously, such misalignment renders it impossible to utilize a fixed cam member and maintain continuous contact between the outer edge thereof and the side of extractor lug 36 without incurring binding or excessive looseness depending upon the position of actuator 22 relative to the walls of the track therefor in recoil unit 14. However, such undesirable condition is avoided by pivoting one end of cam member 42 in actuator 22 and. utiliz ing spring 43 to continuously bias the opposite free end thereof outwardly into contact with the side of extractor lug 36 to the extent permitted by shoulder 52. Such floating movement of cam member 42 serves to compensate for any lateral tilting or other misalignment of actuator 22 in recoil unit 14.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is evident that many variations may be devised within the spirit and scope thereof and the following claims are intended to include such variations.

I claim:

1. In a gun having a rotatable drum provided with a plurality of annularly disposed cartridge chambers, and an actuator longitudinally reciprocable between a battery and a recoil position for rotating the drum during each firing cycle to move a fired cartridge case from a firing to an extraction station, the combination of mean; for extracting each fired cartridge case from the drum during movement of the actuator into battery position comprising an extractor having a substantially cylindrical body rotatably mounted in the gun rearwardly of the drum, a laterally extending pawl at the upper end of the extractor body engageable in the extractor groove of the fired cartridge case, an oppositely extending arm at the lower end of the extractor body, a lug depending from the underside of said extractor arm, an upwardly projecting striker portion on the actuator engageable with said depending extractor lug during movement of the actuator into battery position for swinging said extractor pawl to withdraw the fired cartridge case engaged therewith from the drum, cam means on the actuator forwardly of said striker portion for striking said extractor lug during recoil movement of the actuator to rotate said extractor body and return said pawl thereon into position to engage in the extractor groove of the fired cartridge case during rotative movement thereof into the extraction station, and means for adjustably positioning said cam means to compensate for any lateral movements of the actuator during the longitudinal reciprocation thereof and thereby hold said extractor pawl against the rear face of the drum until the fired cartridge case has been rotated into the extraction station.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said cam means comprises a longitudinal member pivotally mounted at the rear end thereof in the top of the actuator forwardly of said striker portion and an inclined cam surface on the rear end of said member for striking said extractor lug during recoil movement of the actuator to rotate said extractor and return said pawl thereon into contact with the rear face of the drum, and wherein said means for adjustably positioning said cam member comprises a fixed stop on the actuator adjacent the forward end of said cam member, and a spring seated between said stop and the side of said cam member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,656,635 Stevens et a1. Oct. 27, 1953 2,708,803 Schneider May 24-, 1955 2,777,236 Runge Jan. 15, 1957 2,777,237 Murphy Jan. 15, 1957 2,799,958 Nothmann et al July 23, 1957 

